Remarks at Formal Swearing-in Ceremony

I thank you all for coming here this morning, particularly those who have traveled from Kansas, Texas, Nicaragua, and Chile. It is a pleasure to have you here this afternoon.

Seriously, I thank Secretary Powell for honoring me with his presence and his confidence. Any one of my colleagues will tell you that no small part of the appeal of serving in the Department of State these days is the opportunity to work with and learn from a great leader and natural diplomat like Secretary of State Colin Powell.

This is an exceptional time for the Department, with a political and career team that is challenged to think creatively and act boldly -- with new resources to produce results. We owe this magnificent opportunity to Secretary Powell, Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, Under Secretary Marc Grossman, and the team they have assembled here.

That team includes my colleagues from the Western Hemisphere bureau. I made it clear that attendance today was not mandatory, but I thank many of them for being here on a day that is important for all of us.

Of course, we could not succeed in our mission to protect and defend our nation’s interests around the globe without the bipartisan support of Congress. And a number of Congressmen and Senators are here for us to thank personally for that support.

We are honored to have Secretary Mel Martinez, former Governor Sununu, and others as special guests. I am humbled that you could join us.

You’ll understand why I can’t name each and every one of you, but I did want to single out former Senator Bob Dole from my home State of Kansas. My folks were and are Democrats, but I became a Republican because of Bob Dole … in 1974 … the year of Watergate. That will give you some idea of my political instincts.

Senator Dole is the original “compassionate conservative.” I thank him for his service to our state and nation, and I am delighted by his presence here this morning.

Last, but certainly not least, I thank representatives of the diplomatic corps, including Secretary General Cesar Gaviria and so many of my colleagues who represent their governments before the White House and at the OAS. We thank you for the constructive spirit with which we promote our common values in the Americas.

I chose Assistant Secretary General Luigi Einaudi for a special role today. Over the last decade, he has been, for me, a challenging but fair boss, a model diplomat, a true “citizen of the Americas,” a tenacious but constructive bureaucrat, a mentor, and a friend.

The role Ambassador Einaudi plays today is that of an authentic representative of each and every one of you here today -- who have been all these things to me and to whom I owe this great honor. I thank him, and I thank each of you.

Ambassador Einaudi and I are both from immigrant families. My grandfathers were railroad workers, one of his was President of Italy. But what is so marvelous about this great country, is that it has rewarded both of us with an opportunity to serve successive generations. Immigrants helped build this great country, and this great country has given the grandsons of immigrants the precious opportunity to help build a better world.

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with you to carry out President Bush’s hopeful vision for the Americas: building a community of nations that is peaceful and prosperous… a safe, stable and democratic neighborhood. And we want to work with our friends and allies in the hemisphere to advance the cause of liberty in the region and around the world.

Today, we have an historic window of opportunity. The Free Trade Area of the Americas will be the largest such partnership on the face of the Earth. As governments open up their economies and give people from all walks of life their fair share of economic opportunity, enhanced trade and investment will generate jobs and income needed to fight poverty and defeat hunger. And in turn, economic liberty and opportunity will create the impetus for political reform and social progress. No other region holds as much promise and potential as the Americas.

Our relationships in the Western Hemisphere also are absolutely vital to our security here at home. Only by working with strong, democratic neighbors can we hope to secure our borders from the threats of transnational criminal networks, narcotics traffickers, and terrorists.

And as we pursue the war against terror and defend our interests around the world, we count on friends and allies who share our values and principles. Many of those allies are to be found in the Americas, and I am proud that their representatives literally stand with us today.

Over the last two decades the people of the Americas have made enormous progress. We must help our neighbors consolidate these gains in the face of serious challenges. Millions of our neighbors -- too many of them children -- lack shelter and their daily bread. Their economies are not growing fast enough to generate sufficient jobs for growing populations, let alone to address chronic poverty.

Corruption and inefficiency have stunted development and spawned popular discontent. Several governments are confronting serious national security threats from terrorists and other criminal gangs. It is fair to say that the roots of most of the problems in the Americas are political and institutional, rather than economic. And, we can’t solve these problems from Washington. The tough, necessary decisions must be made by these leaders themselves. However, let there be no doubt that U.S. leadership is crucial to helping our friends.

We can do this by working with our partners in the region to help make democratic government serve every citizen well. We must continue to advocate free market reforms, respect for the rule of law and sound macroeconomic policies.

We will encourage countries to invest in their people, so that they have the tools, such as education and adequate healthcare, to claim their fair share of economic opportunity, improve their own quality of life, and contribute to the greater good.

We will strive to be clear about our policies and respectful in our diplomacy. Far from imposing solutions, we will fashion them together through a robust OAS, the institutions of inter-American system, the Summit process, and other multilateral mechanisms that bind together our will and resources to advance our shared aspirations and meet common threats.

I have the honor of leading a team that will articulate bold, creative, and practical strategies. In these efforts, I will rely on the experience and judgment of the men and women in our missions who are dealing with these problems first-hand. In my tenure as Ambassador to OAS, I have also come to appreciate the knowledge and wisdom of my colleagues in WHA, and I want to hear all of their ideas as to how we can best advance the President’s agenda.

In conclusion, I hope that our success is not measured by whether we made life a little better for the very rich, but whether we made it a lot better for the very poor, freer for those who are oppressed, and more hopeful for those who are desperate.

You can’t measure “justice” or “hope” in macroeconomic data, which is why such data are not an accurate measure of development. Because none of our achievements are sustainable unless we answer the call of the Haitian who wants nothing more than a chance to survive, the Nicaraguan campesino who lost his back-breaking livelihood through no fault of his own, or that Cuban struggling to bring an end to a brutal dictatorship.

Genuinely sound and principled policies are those that make the world better for the humblest among us, because they will reap prosperity and stability for generations to come. I thank President Bush for his leadership and support. I am very honored to have the opportunity to work with Secretary Powell and all of you to build a better Hemisphere. Together, we will make President Bush’s vision a reality: We will come together as a family in the Americas. Thank you.